Chapter 13
"Victor handled the obituary," he said.
"I know."
"I would have put your name."
"I know that too."
"I never stopped—" He stopped.
Started again.
"There wasn't a day, Anna."
She reached over and put her hand over his.
Just that.
They sat like that until Martin came back in.
"Patricia will be ready to move at eight in the morning," he said.
"I've also taken the liberty of booking you three into the hotel two blocks from my office.
It's clean, it's safe, and it's not in Victor's system." He looked at Harold.
"I'd prefer you not go home tonight."
Harold started to object.
Martin cut him off with a look that had ended thirty years of arguments.
"Victor called Derek while I was on the phone with Patricia.
I know because Derek called Patricia's assistant trying to find out if she'd had any unusual inquiries tonight." He paused to let that land.
"Victor is already moving."
Harold looked at Anna.
She was already looking at him.
"Wake Lily gently," Harold said.
"We're not leaving anything behind that matters."
Anna reached over to her daughter and put a hand on the child's shoulder.
Lily opened her eyes, fully alert in an instant, the way a child is when they have learned that sleeping too deeply has costs.
"Are we going somewhere safe?" Lily asked.
"Yes," Harold said.
"I promise."
Lily looked at him for a moment with the evaluating seriousness of a six-year-old who has been promised things before.
Then she sat up, and reached for her crayon drawing on the nightstand, and held it against her chest.
"Okay," she said.
Martin was already picking up the briefcase.
"There's one more thing."
Harold looked up.
"Patricia found the Meridian Trust account in a preliminary search.
It's registered in the name of a holding company out of Delaware." He paused.
"The beneficial owner on record is Harold James Walton."
May you like
The air went out of the room.
"He registered it in your name," Anna said.
